The AC Podcast

Welcome to a special episode of the AC podcast where we pay tribute to our colleague, mentor and friend, Darren Robson, who passed away earlier this year, aged 50. Darren was the Global Director of the Association for Coaching, founder of the MOE Foundation and a true visionary and leader. On a more personal level, to many individuals, he was an invisible hand supporting them to be the best version of themselves. Darren was passionate about helping others find their voice and believed podcasts were a powerful medium for allowing this to happen – creating meaningful and thought-provoking content for the coaching community. This podcast has his drive, curiosity, passion, vision, and courage to have difficult conversations running through it. He knew how to connect people and brought us together as a team, a place where we know we can be ourselves and carry forward his belief in us and what we create. It was an honour to create an episode where we share clips of Darren speaking in previous podcast episodes interspersed with our reactions and experience of knowing this incredible man. Even if you didn't know Darren, you will be inspired to see the impact one person can have on others and the legacy he left behind. Those who knew him will be touched to hear his voice again and reflect on the difference he made in your own life. We were lucky to know him, and the world was fortunate to have him. Enjoy your new adventures, Darren! "If Darren was in the room, you knew everyone's voice mattered, and it was safe to speak your mind." For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/special-episodes-darren-robson-memories

In this final podcast episode of our Career Coaching series, our host, Mark Crossfield, is joined by Liane Hambly, consultant, author and trainer with over 30 years' experience in career development. This thought-provoking conversation addresses the specific professional development and continuing education that career coaches need. Learn the importance of carefully assessing which areas of professional development are most crucial for individual practice and the importance of continuous learning and reflection. Liane shares some useful models she uses and provides an invaluable list of resources (available in the AC website show notes). They also discuss the benefits of professional organizations, supervision, and peer support learning as well as the value of creating a personal professional development plan. A wonderful episode, full of practical insights for career coaches. "Discomfort is part of learning: not pleasant, but definitely the most useful." For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/discover-career-coaching-podcast-series-professional-development-continuing-education

Our podcast host, Mark Crossfield, is joined by Suzanne Penny, career coach and trainer, for this enlightening discussion about how coaches can support organizations and employees through the difficult transition of redundancy. Suzanne's coaching has been shaped by her lived experience and drives her passion to prove that redundancy can be reframed as a time of transformation, rather than crisis. Learn what outplacement is, what the process typically involves, the key challenges employees face when redundancy strikes and how to guide clients through this career transition. Suzanne also addresses the impact of the pandemic and hybrid working on redundancy practices, as well as the importance of receiving feedback and keeping a positive mindset. Full of tips and suggestions, this is a must-listen podcast episode if you are a coach or an organization supporting employees through redundancy. "How organizations say goodbye is as important as how they say hello" For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/discover-career-coaching-podcast-series-redundancy-outplacement

Join our podcast host, Mark Crossfield, in this educational conversation with Salma Shah, author of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging in Coaching. Salma emphasizes the need for coaches to give time and space to the lived experiences of marginalized groups and to contract for courageous, real conversations. Learn why having a coach is crucial for clients from marginalized groups, who may face additional challenges in the workplace, to assist personal growth at a deep level to move someone from good to great: levelling the playing field and giving everyone an equal opportunity to succeed. Salma shares the challenges she has faced, advice for coaches, prejudice and bias in coaching, exploring identity, and the need for training and continuous development. Learn about the lack of diversity in internal coaching pools, and how this lack of representation can hinder the development of talent pipelines and the success of marginalized groups in the workplace. Every coach needs to listen to this conversation! "Coaching without diversity, equity, and inclusion is like driving blindfolded." For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/discover-career-coaching-podcast-series-equity-inclusion-belonging

Enjoy this practical and honest conversation between our podcast host, Mark Crossfield, and Accredited Master Executive Coach, Supervisor and Author, Julia Menaul, an about the ethical considerations specific to career coaching. Learn what the similarities and differences of ethics are for career coaches and how to coach in an ethical way, from the marketing of your business and chemistry calls, to contracting and the coaching journey. Julia describes some typical ethical challenges that can befall career coaches and how to handle them inside and outside of coach supervision, giving some practical examples. They also discuss the benefits of coaching supervision and the need to be truthful and honest in supervision to stay accountable and develop professionally. Finally, Julia provides some resource recommendations to help coaches stay up-to-date and deepen their understanding of this important subject. "Contracting is everything…what are you saying yes and no to?" For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/discover-career-coaching-podcast-series-ethical-considerations

Join our podcast host Mark Crossfield, in this engaging conversation with Natasha Stanley, career change specialist and head coach at Careershifters. Listen as they walk us through the process of how to successfully help clients through a career change, discussing the Careershifters methodology, techniques and community that have helped 100,000s of clients transition into new careers. Natasha emphasizes the need for clients to gain self-knowledge by identifying their values, desires, and interests and to act, test, and validate ideas in low-risk ways to discover what it is they really want to do. She stresses the importance of helping clients embrace the messiness of career change, navigate uncertainty, and celebrate the small wins. Learn how to make the process fun, surprising, and experimental for clients. Listen to learn more about the transformative power of career change beyond simply finding a new job, to positively impact one's health, relationships, self-esteem, and overall sense of self. "Being able to lead with curiosity and help participants and clients to be open to the possibility of being gloriously surprised is huge." For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/discover-career-coaching-podcast-series-career-change

In this podcast episode our host, Mark Crossfield, interviews Rob Nathan, a career coach and trainer with over 40 years of experience, about the role of self-assessment tools in career coaching. They discuss the benefits of using self-assessment tools in providing focus, managing time, and allowing the coachee to reflect between sessions. Rob shares some specific exercises that he uses with coaching clients and how he determines which assessment tool to use with a particular client or situation. Learn about the five-stage process of career coaching and the different tools used at each stage. Discover how the use of these tools to aid the coaching conversation often leads to the coachee reclaiming part of themselves they had lost. In coming for help with their career, they discover more about who they are, encouraged to take a longer-term view and a 'stretching reality.' This interesting episode provides valuable insights and practical advice for career coaches at any stage of their practice. "It's about reclaiming their own power, so that they can actually say, this is me. I'm not my parents, I am not my peers who are doctors, lawyers or accountants. I am me and I want to do what is right for me." For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/discover-career-coaching-podcast-series-self-assessment-tools

In this podcast episode, our host, Mark Crossfield is joined by coach, author and TEDx speaker, Kate Trafford to discuss how career coaches can better understand their clients' values, goals, and motivations. Kate's coaching approach focuses on identifying her client's zone of genius, which is the unique combination of strengths, skills, motivations, passions, and experiences. They discuss the importance of a discovery call and how it helps to manage expectations and scope. Learn how to elicit authentic outcomes for both a client's career and your work together, how to ensure profiling tools are used appropriately and as authentically as possible and how to help clients at any career stage find authentic inspiration. Kate also differentiates between the internal and external conflict a client may have and the different coaching approaches needed to help them move forward. Enjoy this rich and inspiring conversation and support your clients to truly understand themselves and make informed decisions about their careers and lives. "An important part of our role as a coach is to make sure, our client's goals are actually theirs and not something they were conditioned to pursue or trained to want." For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/discover-career-coaching-podcast-series-values-motivations-strengths-goals

Welcome to our fabulous new podcast series about Career Coaching. In this episode, seasoned Career Coach and host, Mark Crossfield, is joined by Associate Professor at Warwick University, Gill Frigerio. A leading expert in the field of Career Studies and Coaching, Gill explains what career coaching is and its important role in helping individuals find fulfilling work, navigate career transitions, and improve job performance. Learn the unique differences between career coaching and other forms of coaching, and the common challenges and approaches that coaches use to address them. Discover the effectiveness of career coaching and the theoretical frameworks that inform it. Gill looks at the role of technology and helps you look into the future as a career coach – making you better prepared for what's next. "You're not just doing the one-to-one work; you're facilitating learning in lots of different ways." For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/discover-career-coaching-podcast-series-introduction-career-coaching

Our informative, inspiring podcast series on Coaching Tools and Approaches comes to a close this week with this fantastic panel chat. Our host, Claudia Day, is in conversation with Coaching Psychologist, Supervisor, and Lecturer, Dr. Andrea Giraldez-Hayes; art-based Executive Coach and Trainer, Anna Sheather and Leadership Coach and Tutor using improvisation, Julie Flower, about the use of visual and expressive creative coaching approaches. They each share how they integrate their different approaches such as art, mark-making, improvisation, photography, objects and music to create a powerful and impactful coaching experience for their clients. Learn why and when they use these approaches and how they contract and maintain psychological safety, as well as the research and benefits expressed by clients. This conversation invites coaches to be brave, experience and experiment with creative tools and de-bunks the idea you have to be an artist to be a creative coach. "The unlocking and quickness of the process – that really catches people by surprise." For the episode resources and guest bio, please visit: https://www.associationforcoaching.com/page/coaching-tools-approaches-podcast-series-visual-expressive-tools